For five years, the citizens of Wilton Manors, FL have been taking
part in quality shopping, free HIV testing and accessing free condoms at
the city’s Out of the Closet Thrift Store and AHF Pharmacy, which
benefits leading global nonprofit AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF)

As South Floridians celebrate the site’s 5th
anniversary with a gala block party, AHF will roll out the most
cutting-edge HIV testing technology: the INSTI Rapid HIV Test, which
provides accurate results in just sixty seconds – used globally for over
four years and introduced by AHF in California last September, this is
the official launch of 1 minute rapid testing in South Florida

When the Out
of the Closet Thrift Store in the South Florida city of Wilton
Manors first opened its doors on January 25, 2008, it brought to the
community an opportunity to shop with a cause; to access free, private,
and friendly HIV and STD testing; and to fill prescriptions in an AHF
Pharmacy where revenue generated is funneled into good works performed
by leading global nonprofit AIDS
Healthcare Foundation (AHF), not corporate bank accounts.

The store celebrated its fifth anniversary last week with special
discounts throughout the store, but the real celebration of this
milestone will be held this Saturday, February 2, from 8 pm to
midnight in the Wilton Manors City Hall parking lot—across the street
from the store. The festive block party, hosted by AHF in
partnership with Infinity
Lounge, will feature music, barbeque, a cash grab booth, a photo
booth, go-go dancers, raffle prizes, giveaways, and more. But the most
important part of the Fifth Anniversary Block Party will be in the two
free mobile HIV testing vans AHF will have on-site, because inside those
vans Floridians will be able to know their HIV status in just sixty
seconds thanks to the bioLytical
Laboratories’INSTITM
Rapid HIV Test.

“We are proud to be the first organization not only to utilize the INSTI
test in the United States, but to be the group that brings this
important medical advancement to South Florida,” said Jack Carrel,
Director of Public Health for AHF’s Southern Bureau. “This sixty-second
option eliminates the anxiety that comes with waiting 15 minutes for
one’s results – our aim is that the ease of the test will increase the
number of people getting tested, ensuring that everyone who is currently
HIV-positive will be aware of their status and can immediately be linked
to lifesaving follow-up treatment and care, if need be.”

AHF operates seven healthcare centers in Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, Tampa,
and Jacksonville, as well as two mobile healthcare units.

The cutting-edge testing technology of INSTITM has been used
in developing countries throughout Africa and in India for about four
years, but was just introduced to America for the first time on
September 22, when AHF unveiled the rapid test with ten mobile testing
vans at a launch event in West Hollywood. 183 people – of which only one
was identified as HIV positive – were tested that day using the speedy
tool, which requires only a drop of blood and sixty seconds to give a
person 99.9% accurate results on their HIV status.

AHF has been involved in HIV treatment, testing, and advocacy in Florida
for over a decade, and the Foundation operates six healthcare centers
and a total of four Out of the Closet Thrift Stores throughout South
Florida. Though the nonprofit utilized INSTITM Rapid Tests at
two events in December – a testing event held at South Beach club TWIST
and at the Florida Jingle Ball concert – the Fifth Anniversary Block
Party this weekend marks the official launch of INSTITM
testing in South Florida, provided exclusively through AHF and available
for free at their Out of the Closet Thrift Stores and in their mobile
testing units.

In addition to learning their HIV status with this quick and easy new
test, people who get tested through AHF will also have immediate access
to on-site counselors providing emotional support and information about
treatment options for anyone who tests positive.

“They don’t just come in, get tested, and we throw them out. We take
care of them,” Paul Stanley, the District Manager of Retail
Operations, told the South Florida Gay News earlier this year. Stanley
worked his way up to this position after starting as a cashier at the
Wilton Manors Out of the Closet Thrift Store when it opened five years
ago.

“Five years of HIV testing and fundraising through the thrift shop in
Wilton Manors is truly something to celebrate,” said Michael Kahane,
AHF Southern Bureau Chief. “Wilton Manors is faced with an exceptionally
high prevalence of HIV/AIDS in relation to the rest of the state, so
being able to provide testing and access to information and medication
all within the friendly fundraising environment of our Out of the Closet
store is important not only to AHF, but to the members of this community
we serve.”

AHF operates 23 Out of the Closet Thrift Stores, 22 of which are in
California and Florida and the last of which stands as the
organization’s only international thrift store location in Amsterdam.

About AHF

AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) is the largest non-profit HIV/AIDS
healthcare provider in the USA. AHF currently provides medical care
and/or services to nearly 200,000 individuals in 28 countries worldwide
in the US, Africa, Latin America/Caribbean, Eastern Europe, and Asia.
Additional information is available at www.aidshealth.org.